A business entity that is marketing or selling voluntary carbon offsets within the state shall disclose on the business entity’s internet website all of the following information:

(a) Details regarding the applicable carbon offset project, including all of the following information:

Ask a legal question, get an answer ASAP!
Click here to chat with a lawyer about your rights.

(1) The specific protocol used to estimate emissions reductions or removal benefits.

(2) The location of the offset project site.

(3) The project timeline.

(4) The date when the project started or will start.

(5) The dates and quantities when a specified quantity of emissions reductions or removals started or will start, or was modified or reversed.

(6) The type of project, including whether the offsets from the project are derived from a carbon removal, an avoided emission, or, in the case of a project with both carbon removals and avoided emissions, the breakdown of offsets from each.

(7) Whether the project meets any standards established by law or by a nonprofit entity.

(8) The durability period for any project that the seller knows or should know that the durability of the project’s greenhouse gas reductions or greenhouse gas removal enhancements is less than the atmospheric lifetime of carbon dioxide emissions.

(9) Whether there is independent expert or third-party validation or verification of the project attributes.

(10) Emissions reduced or carbon removed on an annual basis.

(b) Details regarding accountability measures if a project is not completed or does not meet the projected emissions reductions or removal benefits, including, but not limited to, details regarding what actions the entity, either directly or by contractual obligation, shall take under both of the following circumstances:

(1) If carbon storage projects are reversed.

(2) If future emissions reductions do not materialize.

(c) The pertinent data and calculation methods needed to independently reproduce and verify the number of emissions reduction or removal credits issued using the protocol.

(d) For the purposes of this part, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Durability” means the duration of time over which an offset project operator commits to maintain its greenhouse gas reductions and greenhouse gas removal enhancements, as applicable, exclusive of any aspirational outcomes that exceed or extend beyond the mandatory outcomes required of the offset project pursuant to its offset protocol.

(2) “Protocol” means a documented set of procedures and requirements to quantify ongoing greenhouse gas reductions or greenhouse gas removal enhancements achieved by an offset project and to calculate the project baseline, including specification of relevant data collection and monitoring procedures, emission factors, and methodologies used to conservatively account for uncertainty and activity-shifting and market-shifting leakage risks associated with an offset project.

(3) (A) “Voluntary carbon offset” means any product sold or marketed in the state that claims to be a “greenhouse gas emissions offset,” a “voluntary emissions reduction,” a “retail offset,” or any like term, that connotes that the product represents or corresponds to a reduction in the amount of greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere or that prevents the emission of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that would have otherwise been emitted.

(B) “Voluntary carbon offset” does not include products that represent or correspond to legal or regulatory mandates for either of the following:

(i) Reduction of the amount of greenhouse gases present in the atmosphere.

(ii) Prevention of the emissions of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

(Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 365, Sec. 1. (AB 1305) Effective January 1, 2024.)